Some Issues with Murder and Terror

I’m gonna throw more out here as I don’t know when I’ll see my PS4 again, so we best just brainstorm and wrap up the week.

I was reading the old post just now and we mentioned driving.

You know what this game doesn’t yet have? That it fucking NEEDS?????

Fast travel points.

Shouldn’t it have those by now?

Feminina:

That’s a good point, we did mention that early on. I think maybe those don’t exist. I haven’t seen any yet, anyway.

Butch:

Now I’m at the eye doctor. Blind and bats. What a week I’m having.

At least I went back to the house and all looked normal. Though I channeled my inner Lincoln. Sneak, throw the door open, snap to cover just in case bat Kevin attacked.

I’m only slightly ashamed.

Feminina:

Why any shame? You should seize this as an example of how video games have taught you useful life skills! I mean, you wouldn’t have wanted Bat Kevin to get you if he’d been there, right?

Of course right.

Oh, and speaking of Hollis Dupree (which we were at one point yesterday), have you heard the segment where the “Native Son” interviews him? And his explanation for what he was thinking?

Butch:

No. No I would not have wanted that.

Maybe I’ll stop mowing the lawn. Never know when Kevin skunk or Kevin turkey will show up.

Haven’t heard that Native Son yet. But I’m sure it has a lot to say…..

Feminina:

It’s very…timely. And ties back to that issue of white fear that we talked about after the amusement park.

We’ll talk. Later.

Butch:

I know he shot an innocent black kid, and was indicted. Right? Timely indeed.

Ok, at home, gonna play before I gotta get boys off the bus.

Fuck you, bat Kevin.

Feminina:

Indeed. He shot TWO unarmed black men who came to his door for help after they got a flat tire.

And he was indicted, but the community, at least as represented by Native Son, is rallying around him, because he’s a veteran (as were the two men, but interestingly–ha–we hear more about how one of them had a juvenile record than about their service), and it’s just so UNFAIR that he should be “prosecuted and persecuted” for the trifling error of killing a couple of people for no reason. Which could happen to anyone!

And I mean, we’re sympathetic to that argument because we know all too well how easy it is to absently murder a few dozen people before lunch, but we’re the PC! Also, those people were all wandering Kevins who totally would have killed us first, not random guys who just wanted to call a tow truck!

And I think it comes back a bit on us as players (and on games in general, even) in a sly way, nudging at our casual attitude to death and how easy it is to justify our own conduct–but obviously what it’s really getting at is the crushing racism in this country.

Because the story of a black person getting a flat tire and going to a nearby house for help and getting shot by a white person is a today story. That’s our crushing racism, man.

And in the game this story kind of stands for all the other things it’s also not safe to do while black, due to our crushing racism, which kind of all sum up to “making some white person nervous.” THAT we white people cannot abide.

Which I think comes back to the amusement park bit, and how slaveholders live in terror of slave uprisings, and how Lincoln Clay is (I think) making use of white fear to spook his targets, but how that white fear is not just part of a tactic he deploys, it’s also seething in the whole culture and used a lot more commonly against him (the cops sure are awfully quick to open fire), or people who look like him–for example when it’s cited as a totally legitimate reason to have killed two people.

I feel like this is maybe a recognition of the fact that he can try to turn this fear to his own purposes, and that’s smart strategy and we can kind of applaud him for skillfully terrorizing his enemies with their own racist nightmares, but that we have to be aware that in the real world this is a real thing that does not primarily work to the advantage of anyone except white people getting away with murder.

Sorry, I mean “totally justifiable self-defense murder.”

Butch:

OK, just heard that bit. But did you also notice he was specifically afraid of the killer n word? Which would be Lincoln. This followed by the Voice of the Hollow encouraging the black ghost. That’s Lincoln. That’s us.

“Does not primarily work for anyone except white people trying to get away with murder…” I agree. But the Voice does not. The voice is ALL for this. Kill ’em, black ghost! Which is…is he wrong? Who are we, white folks, to say?

Feminina:

Well, I did say “primarily.” Obviously, there can be quite significant secondary effects of things. And yeah, the Voice is all about it, which complicates things–and we certainly aren’t in a position of expertise here.

But yeah, I didn’t want to spoil that, but how about the fact that Hollis Dupree specifically cites Lincoln (not by name obviously) as the reason he was scared? And then at some point I also heard another radio person talking about it (not the Native Son guy) and he mentioned how “the wave of colored-on-white violence” was putting people on edge or whatever.

And…yeah, pretty much all of that has to be Lincoln, considering most of the Kevins (ever since Baka and his gang) are white. It’s a nice touch, that all our hundreds of recent murders are at least noticed in the world, that it makes a difference that all those guys aren’t around anymore–although not so much of a difference that there are any fewer of them to murder in the next mission, of course.

But anyway…it does complicate things. The Voice is all for terrorizing white people, and maybe they do deserve it on some level as participants in an unjust society, but then it makes them all jumpy and they shoot people who don’t deserve it and blame Lincoln for making them scared. It’s not Lincoln’s FAULT those two guys are dead, and given how many black guys are dead today in the absence of a wave of colored-on-white violence it’s not even a particularly plausible explanation, but it is true that Lincoln has to know his actions will be seized on as an excuse. And willingly accepted as a perfectly good excuse by other jumpy white people on the jury, most likely.

Butch:

This game does a very good job of making things complex, and having things matter. Not entirely sure that “Every player’s story is unique,” but at least every player’s story is thought provoking. I’ll give it that.

In terms of making you ask if Lincoln (you) are a hero or a villain? Spot on.

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About Feminina O'Ladybrain

As a woman, Feminina O'Ladybrain loves skimpy armor, the Smurfette Principle, and being rescued. She also enjoys setting things on fire, and is unusually fond of shotguns.
She likes lady games, such as 'Lady: The Game,' but since that doesn't exist, she plays a lot of series, like 'Dragon Age,' 'Mass Effect,' and 'Assassin's Creed.'